Livestream Links for Conference Celebrating 500 Years of the First Lutheran Hymnals
Livestream links for a Reformation Hymn Festival and conference celebrating the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnals.
Tag Archives: Hymn
Celebrating 500 Years of Lutheran Hymnals and the Lutheran Chorale
St. James Lutheran Church of West Saint Paul, Minnesota, would like to invite you to join us live or via livestream on October 25-26 for a special conference celebrating the 500th anniversary of the first Lutheran hymnals and the great tradition of the musical proclamation of the Gospel that it fostered. Entitled “Proclaiming Christ 2024: Let Us Sing of Jesus” the conference will… Read More »
“Silent Night” – A New Metrical Translation of All Six Stanzas for Both the Original and the Modern Melodies
A new metrical translation of all six stanzas of “Silent Night” in their original order that can be sung to either the original melody or the melody commonly sung today. The translation better reflects the meaning of the original text, but also has the exact same meter in each stanza so that it can be sung easily to both melodies.
“And Take They Our Life” – More Thoughts on “A Mighty Fortress”
The short phrase “and take they our life” is the fifth line of the fourth and final stanza of one of the greatest Christian hymns in all of sacred music, “A Mighty Fortress” (EIN FESTE BURG) by Martin Luther (1483-1546). This phrase consists of five words in English and only four in the original German, “nehmen sie den… Read More »
Praise and Honor: Hymn-Inspired Devotions
Those of you familiar with this blog know that it offers reflections and insights into sacred music and Christian hymns. This week I would like to share with you a new book that does the same. The author is Timothy Shoup, a parish pastor from Bonduel, Wisconsin and a former classmate of mine. With his book Praise and… Read More »
More Settings of “Now Thank We All Our God”
It is quite remarkable that a faithful Christian pastor wrote a hymn of thanksgiving in the middle of war, pestilence, and famine (see “Pestilence and ‘Now Thank We All Our God.’”). It is equally remarkable that this hymn transcended time and place and has become so popular. The hymn is still performed throughout the world by many different… Read More »
Pestilence and “Now Thank We All Our God”
What does pestilence have to do with the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God”? Quite a bit, actually. Watching the news of the dangers, growth, and spread of the Coronavirus gives new meaning to the petition in the special Litany prayer in our hymnal asking God to protect us from “pestilence and famine.” Pestilence was nothing new… Read More »
Thoughts on “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright”
For the Twelfth and last Day of Christmas and for the Feast of Epiphany let us examine the “Queen of Chorales,” “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” (“Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”). Composed by the Reverend Philip Nicolai (1556-1608), it is often sung as an Epiphany hymn although it can be sung on other occasions as well. For… Read More »
Thoughts on “O Rejoice, Ye Christians Loudly”
The tune for the Christmas and New Year hymn “O Rejoice, Ye Christians Loudly” comes from an infectiously joyous motet by Andreas Hammerschmidt (see video below). In his motet he places exclamations of “Alleluia!” before and after the stanzas of the poem by Christian Keimann (1607-62). Bach concluded Cantata 40 for The Second Sunday of Christmas with a stirring setting of Stanza… Read More »
Thoughts on “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
The thoughts below were prepared for the “Devotions on the Hymn of the Day” project of the Center for Church Music at Concordia University, Chicago. For a downloadable PDF version of this devotion, click here. For additional devotions, click here. Although many of our most popular Christmas carols are only a few hundred years old, the Christmas carol… Read More »